Intel promises low prices -- but will OEMs listen? And more importantly, does OEM believe in its own message?

Intel Corp. (INTC) has a pretty interesting pricing strategy that it's revealed at the 2013 Intel Developer Forum (2013 IDF). Three messages can be taken away from the pricing Intel has revealed.

First, it is a great time to be a PC buyer -- if you're interested in an Intel PC. Prices on Intel equipped PCs -- which will start at $99 USD -- have never been cheaper. Second, Intel has to be compromising its famously high margins to hit these price points (you'll agree when you see them). And third, for the first time Intel has a clear tiered price hierarchy in which price is (somewhat) a function of utility and processing power (seemingly a fair deal).

The big question is whether OEMs will cooperate with these aggressive prices. After all "starting at" by no means says that all -- or even the majority -- of OEMs will offering product at these prices. Intel had promised very low ultrabook prices in 2012 -- and it largely failed to deliver on those promises. What's even more troubling in the present context, is that Intel itself seems somewhat conflicted about its commitment to budget pricing.

Our customers are not looking for the cheapest thing they can find. What they are looking for is the best thing they can afford…. This is the way for Bay Trail to close that gap as it delivers performance in multiple segments.

A $99 USD tablet certainly sounds cheap. So the question is which direction Intel is truly committed to -- budget tiered pricing or "the best thing [the consumer] can afford." Intel -- who has long struggled in the tablet market -- has traditionally adopted the latter philosophy. Now as it throws in budget pricing rhetoric one must wonder whether it's changing direction, or merely adding a bipolar sales message to an already struggling campaign.

It's possible that Intel will be able to tread the line have sell to both the high and low end in the tablet/2-in-1/laptop market. But if it slips, these mixed signals could come back to haunt it.